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Biomedical subjects

H DeMots

Publications and source records attributed to H DeMots.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Failure of antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy to improve patency of grafts after coronary-artery bypass: a controlled, randomized study.

Fifty patients who underwent aortocoronary saphenous-vein bypass-graft surgery were randomly assigned to one of three groups to determine the effects of antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy on graft patency. Twenty-four patients served as controls; 13 patients received aspirin (325 mg three times a day) and dipyridamole (75 mg three times a day); and 13 patients received closely regulated warfarin therapy. Medications were begun on the third post-operative day. Six months after surgery, all patients underwent coronary angiography to assess graft patency. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in various clinical, hemodynamic and angios, 27 of 33 grafts (82 per cent) with aspirin and dipyridamole and 29 of 37 grafts (78 per cent) with warfarin (P less than 0.5), all patients had at least one patent graft. Postoperative treatment either with aspirin and dipyridamole or with warfarin failed to improve the patency of the grafts.

Aged

Spontaneous return of patency in a completely occluded coronary artery.

We observed a 56-year=old man in whom an occluded right coronary artery was observed to be widely patent on a subsequent angiogram 40 months later. This "regression," which occurred without a change in his risk factors, shows that manipulation of risk factors can be proven to be a cause of regression only in controlled studies.

Coronary Angiography

A prospective study of sudden death in "high-risk" bundle-branch block.

We prospectively followed 257 patients with bifascicular and trifascicular conduction-system disease and intact atrioventricular conduction who had undergone His-bundle studies. Forty-seven per cent had associated coronary-artery disease, and 23 per cent primary conduction-system disease. His-ventricular interval was moderately prolonged in 43 per cent and markedly prolonged in 12 per cent. During an average follow-up period of 25 months 50 patients died. However, death was sudden in only 27, and 17 of the sudden deaths were not due to bradyarrhythias. Actuarial analysis showed an overall mortality rate (mean +/- S.E.) of 19 +/- 2.6 per cent at two years, mortality from sudden death being 10 +/- 2.6 per cent. Permanent heart block occurred in 12. No clinical symptoms (including syncope), electrocardiographic findings, electrophysiologic data or their combination identified patients at high risk of sudden death. Sudden death due to bradyarrhythmia is uncommon in patients with bundle-branch block and intact atrioventricular conduction. Therefore, routine prophylactic use of permanent pacemakers in all such patients is inappropriate. Pacemaker implantation should be reserved for those with documented symptomatic bradyarrhythmias.

Adult

Diastolic rumbles with porcine heterograft prosthesis in the atrioventricular position. Normal or abnormal prosthesis?

Three patients with porcine atrioventricular valves (two mitral, one tricuspid) with diastolic rumbles and presystolic murmurs are presented. Full hemodynamic and angiographic studies demonstrated moderate to severe prosthetic stenosis, even in the one patient who was minimally symptomatic. Diastolic murmurs across atrioventricular porcine heterografts indicate prosthetic stenosis until proved otherwise by full hemodynamic and angiographic studies. If the studies indicate normal function of the device and calculated prosthetic valve area that is small for the patient, then it must be recognized that the device is hemodynamically "stenotic" for that particular patient (valve prosthesis--patient mismatch).

Adult

Effects of ouabain on myocardial oxygen supply and demand in patients with chronic coronary artery disease. A hemodynamic, volumetric, and metabolic study in patients without heart failure.

The effects of digitalis glycosides on myocardial oxygen supply and demand are of particular interest in the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease, but have not been measured previously in man. We assessed the effects of ouabain (0.015 mg/kg body weight) on hemodynamic, volumetric, and metabolic parameters in 11 patients with severe chronic coronary artery disease without clinical congestive heart failure. Because the protocol was long and involved interventions which might affect the determinations, we also studied in nine patients using an identical protocol except that ouabain administration was omitted. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic volume fell in each patient given ouabain, even though they were initially elevated in only two patients. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure fell from 11.5+/-1.4 (mean+/-SE) to 5.6+/-0.9 mm Hg (P less than 0.001) and left ventricular end-diastolic volume fell from 100+/-17 to 82+/-12 ml/m2 (P less than 0.01) 1 h after ouabain infusion was completed. The maximum velocity of contractile element shortening increased from 1.68+/-0.11 ml/s to 2.18+/-0.21 muscle-lengths/s (P less than 0.05) and is consistent with an increase in contractility. No significant change in these parameters occurred in the control patients. No significant change in myocardial oxygen consumption occurred after ouabain administration but this may be related to a greater decrease in mean arterial pressure in the ouabain patients than in the control patients. We conclude that in patients with chronic coronary artery disease who are not in clinical congestive heart failure left ventricular end-diastolic volume falls after ouabain administration even when it is initially normal. Though this fall would be associated with a decrease in wall tension, and, therefore, of myocardial oxygen consumption, it may not be of sufficient magnitude to prevent a net increase in myocardial oxygen consumption. Nevertheless, compensatory mechanisms prevent a deterioration of resting myocardial metabolism.

Adult

Left main coronary artery disease. Risks of angiography, importance of coexisting disease of other coronary arteries and effects of revascularization.

To elucidate the determinants of the poor prognosis of patients with left main coronary artery disease and to assess the efficacy of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions the angiographic features and clinical course of 58 patients with left main coronary artery disease studied between September 1967 and June 1974 were analyzed. Eighty-three coronary arteriograms were obtained in these 58 patients using the Judkins technique; there were no immediate complications although one patient died 3 days after study. Previously cited predictors of left main coronary artery, unstable or nonexertional angina and marked S-T segment depression with exercise were found in a minority of patients; thus, the presence of the disease could not reliably be predicted before arteriographic study. Coexisting disease was found in either two or three other coronary arteries in 46 of 58 patients; only 2 patients had isolated left main coronary artery disease. Because the criteria for operability have changed in recent years, current criteria without knowledge of the treatment actually given or its outcome. The condition of 10 of 58 patients was judged inoperable in retrospect because of severe coexisting distal coronary artery disease (8 patients) or ventricular dysfunction (2 patients). Of 19 patients whose condition was judged operable in retrospect but who were treated without surgery, 9 died, 8 within 18 months; 10 have survived 12 to 83 months. Another 27 patients with a condition judged operable in retrospect had received saphenous vein bypass grafts. In this group, there were four operative and three late deaths. The severity of angina decreased in survivors treated surgically but was unchanged in survivors treated without surgery. The improvement in survival rates of surgically treated patients was not statistically significant. The data indicate that coronary arteriography can be performed at low risk with the Judkins technique even though preangiographic prediction of left main coronary artery disease is unreliable. Coexisting disease in oter major coronary arteries is an important determinant of the poor prognosis of patients with left main coronary artery disease and precludes surgery in 13 percent. Isolated left main coronary artery disease is uncommon. Surgical therapy relieves symptoms more effectively than nonsurgical therapy.

Angina Pectoris

Objective and subjective analysis of left ventricular angiograms.

In order to determine the reproducibility of analyses of left ventriculograms, 35 cineangiograms were evaluated by four observers, two using standard quantitative techniques to determine ventricular volumes and a newly devised quantitative system to evaluate wall motion and two others using only visual inspection of the angiograms. Objective analysis repeated by the same observer correlated well for end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and ejection fraction (r = .98, .99, respectively) and only one of 105 (1%) wall segments were identified differently. Variability in assessments increased when comparisons were made with a second objective observer. Correlation coefficients for the three volumetric parameters were .93, .98, and .95 and there was disagreement in the assessment of 8% of wall segments. Wide variability was present between an objective and two subjective observers in analyses of end-diastolic volumes (r = .63, .64). Regional wall motion was assessed differently in 19% and 27% of segments, respectively. Though the correlation of objectively and subjectively determined ejection fractions was much better than the correlation for volume (r = .92, .84), it was not as good as the correlation between two objective observers. Occasional errors of clinical significance occurred. We conclude that subjective analysis has a significant error rate and that reproducibility and accuracy of analysis of left ventriculograms require objective analysis.

Angiocardiography

Aortic root dilatation and mitral valve prolapse in Marfan's syndrome: an ECHOCARDIOgraphic study.

Echocardiographic and phonocardiographic findings in 35 patients with Marfan's Syndrome and ten patients without Marfan's or other clinically apparent connective tissue disorders but with angiographic and echocardiographic evidence of mitral prolapse are reported and compared. Echocardiography revealed aortic root dilatation and/or mitral valve prolapse in 97% of the patients with Marfan's Syndrome. Aortic root dilatation was found in 60% of this group (74% of males, 33% of females) while mitral valve prolapse was found in 91% (87% of males, 100% of females). The incidence of aortic dilatation and mitral prolapse in patients with Marfan's syndrome was essentially equal in children and adults of the same sex. None of the nine adults or one child with mitral prolapse but without evidence of Marfan's Syndrome or other clinically apparent connective tissue disorder had aortic root enlargement. Ausculatory examination and phnocardiography revealed abnormalities in 54% of the patients with Marfan's Syndrome. Aortic regurgitation was found in 23% of this group (35% of males, 0% of females) while mitral regurgitation and/or mitral clicks were found in 46% (39% of males, 58% of females). Aortic regurgitation was much more frequent in adult males with Marfan's Syndrome (7/14, 50%) than male children (1/9, 11%), while the incidence of abnormal mitral sounds was essentially the same in adults (33% of males, 60% of females) and children (43% of males, 57% of females) of the same sex with Marfan's Syndrome. Abnormal mitral sounds were more frequent in patients without Marfan's who had mitral prolapse (90%) than in those with Marfan's (46%). It appears that cardiac abnormalities are a consistent manifestation of Marfan's Syndrome and that ultrasound is a more sensitive indicator of these abnormalities in such patients than ausculation or phonocardiography.

Adolescent